Chemicals and industrial manufacturing
Continuous process, high-value rotating assets and safety regulations that leave no room for improvisation. This is the classic ground for reliability, and also where the effect of good coordination between the manufacturing programme and the maintenance plan shows most clearly: every hour of downtime has a known price.
What we find in this sector
Continuous processes in which a stoppage drags down the whole plant and carries a very high hourly cost.
ATEX areas and equipment with specific maintenance and intervention requirements.
Critical rotating machinery — pumps, compressors, fans, gearboxes — where predictive maintenance gives a real return.
Multi-year major shutdowns whose planning decides the result for the year.
A manufacturing programme and a preventive plan that get in each other's way, with the shutdown window as a permanent battleground.
Ageing installations with obsolete spare parts and control systems.
Analysis of plant performance and of the losses from start-up, transition and process adjustment.
Coordination between the manufacturing programme and the shutdown windows, with rules agreed rather than negotiated every week.
An organisational model based on autonomous units and a daily management routine across process, maintenance and quality.
Standardisation of operating methods and the Production Operating Manual (MOP).
Optimisation of the raw materials warehouse and of the capital tied up in it.
RCM implementation on the critical systems and review of the maintenance strategies.
Predictive maintenance plans for rotating machinery: vibration, thermography, oils and ultrasound.
Root cause analysis of recurring failures and of incidents with consequences.
Technical assessment of obsolescence and prioritised renewal plans.
Preparation, planning and control of major shutdowns.
Electrical studies — selectivity, short circuit and internal arc — and regulatory compliance.
Implementation of MES/CMMS systems (MES/GMAO) on a plant model that represents the real process.
Integration with SCADA and instrumentation to condition preventive work on effective running hours.
Continuous monitoring of the critical assets and automatic triggering of the work order.
A joint dashboard covering process performance, reliability and cost.
Deciding in advance what to measure and where: instrumenting the whole plant is not a strategy.